Download tentative - Penn GSE

EDUCATION 544: SCHOOL AND SOCIETY
Fall, 2011
Instructor: Richard M. Ingersoll
[email protected]
office hours - Wednesdays 2:00-4:00 in 415 GSE, or by appointment
GSE Office: room 415, 3700 Walnut St. - Graduate School of Education - 215-573-5674
CPRE Office: room 517, suite 560, 3440 Market St. - Science Center - 215-573-0700, ext. 226
Class Hours and Location: Mondays 2:00-4:30 in the GSE building, room 114.
Course Description:
This is an introductory masters-degree level survey course. It provides an overview of theory and
research concerned with the relationship between schooling and society. The objective is to
impart to students a grasp of major ideas, themes and traditions concerned with the social and
historical foundations of the education system. This includes both mainstream and critical
theories of how societal forces have shaped the purposes, processes and organization of schools.
In addition, the course will explore a number of current education policy issues. The primary
focus will be on elementary and secondary schools in the U.S.
Required Readings:
There is 1 required text and it is available for purchase at the Penn Center Bookstore (34th and
Sansom St.) and has also been placed on reserve at Van Pelt’s Rosengarten Reserve Library:
Jonathan Kozol, Savage Inequalities.
In addition, a set of required readings are available for purchase as a course pack from the
Campus Copy Center (3907 Walnut St.). These readings are listed below in the Course Outline.
Grading Criteria:
50% -- Take Home Mid-Term Exam
50% -- Take Home Final Exam
Class attendance is required; those missing 4 or more classes will lose up to 10% off their grade.
1
Grading Scale:
A+: 97-100
A : 94-96
A- : 90-93
B+: 87-89
B : 84-86
B- : 80-83
C+: 77-79
Etc.
Course Outline: (Note: This schedule is tentative and subject to change).
Week 1 (Sept. 12) The Purposes of Schooling
Kirst - chapters 1-4 from Who Controls our Schools?
Week 2 (Sept. 19) The Traditional Perspective
Kirst - chapters 1-4 from Who Controls our Schools? (continued)
Durkheim – “Education: Its Nature and Role.”
Dreeben – “The Contribution of Schooling to the Learning of Norms”
Week 3 (Sept. 26) The Progressive Perspective - 1
Henry - "Golden Rule Days: American Schoolrooms."
Gracey - "Learning the Student Role: Kindergarten as Academic Boot Camp"
Week 4 (Oct. 3) The Progressive Perspective - 2
Becker - selections from Making the Grade
Neill - selections from Summerhill: a Radical Approach to Child Rearing.
Week 5 (Oct. 10) The Egalitarian Perspective - 1
Kozol - Savage Inequalities
2
Week 6 (Oct. 17) The Egalitarian Perspective - 2
Rist – “Student Social Class and Teacher Expectations.”
Sadker & Sadker – “Sexism in the Classroom: From Grade School to Graduate School”
Anyon – "Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work."
Week 7 (Oct. 24) Review and Midterm Exam
Week 8 (Oct 31) The Neo-Traditional Perspective - 1
Coleman - "Families and Schools."
Clark – “The High School and the University: What Went Wrong in America, Parts 1-2"
Week 9 (Nov. 7) The Neo-Traditional Perspective - 2
Segal – “Roadblocks in Reforming Corrupt Agencies: The Case of New York City
School Custodians.”
Brewer et al. - “Detracking America’s Schools: The Reform Without Cost?”
Murray & Herrnstein - “What’s Really Behind the SAT-Score Decline?
Week 10 (Nov. 14) The Teacher Accountability Perspective
Thomas & Wingert – “Why We Must Fire Bad Teachers.”
Week 11 (Nov. 21) The Teachers’ Perspective –
McPherson - "Natural Enemies: Parents and Teachers"
Grant – “The Teacher’s Predicament.”
Cuban & Tyack – “Lessons from History”
Week 12 (Nov. 28) The Teachers’ Perspective - 2
Ingersoll – “Four Myths about America’s Teacher Quality Problem”
3
Week 13 (Dec. 5) The Teachers’ Perspective - 3
National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future - No Dream Denied: A Pledge
To America’s Children.
Week 14 (Dec. 12) Review and Final Exam
Week 15 (Dec. 19) No Class / Final Exam Due
4